Arne Slot has a golden opportunity to strengthen his team in the January transfer windowplaceholder image
Arne Slot has a golden opportunity to strengthen his team in the January transfer window | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The Premier League champions are expected to be in the market for reinforcements after a challenging first half of the campaign
Despite spending more than £450m on reinforcements, Liverpool currently find themselves well of the pace in this season’s title race, and it’s going to take an almighty turnaround from the Reds in the second half of the campaign to turn this season around and make into one they’ll remember with fondness.
However, it’s worth noting that a large portion of this squad are proven winners such as Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah (if he stays), while the likes of Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez among others still have huge potential which could be unlocked in the second half of the campaign.
As it stands, Liverpool are missing the players that they sold much more than they are benefiting from the ones they brought in. There’s a lack of cover in central defence after the decision to sell Jarell Quansah and the failure to sign Marc Guehi, while perhaps even more alarmingly there’s also a huge lack of options at left-wing after Cody Gakpo’s recent muscle injury and the recent high-profile sale of winger Luis Diaz to German heavyweights Bayern Munich.
With the exception of 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha, Liverpool don’t have a fully fit left-winger heading into the festive period, meaning Wirtz, who was signed as a central attacking midfielder, is likely to play out wide. And all that is without mentioning the potential exit of Salah after his public spat with Arne Slot.
The Salah saga is something we’ve already covered in a fair bit of detail, with a few bold suggestions on how to solve it, but how should Liverpool go about replacing Diaz after failing to sign a replacement over the summer?
Why Yankuba Minteh could be a good solution to Liverpool’s left wing problem
Minteh, who is regarded as one of the most exciting young talents in the league, is a player that Slot is very familiar with from his time as Feyenoord manager. He signed the youngster on a season-long loan deal from Newcastle United during his final season in Rotterdam and helped him unlock his potential in a productive stint which saw him score 11 goals and provide five assists in 37 appearances across all competitions. Slot said at the time: “Minteh went to Newcastle United and the English were looking for a club to loan him to. That’s how he came to us. He certainly doesn’t lack self-confidence. His willingness to give everything is enormous. When we see his statistics, it is really impressive.”
This earned him a big £30m move to Brighton in the summer of 2024, and he’s already proved an excellent addition. He registered seven goals and five assists from 37 appearances in his first campaign and has already enjoyed a strong start to this campaign with a series of stellar displays.
Minteh is renowned for his relentless ability to press opposing defences, his explosive pace to make runs in behind the backline and his incredible dribbling qualities. He sits second in the league for successful take-ons this term and is currently in the top eight creative players in the league with 52 shot-creating actions.
Yankuba Minteh could be Liverpool’s long-term successor to Sadio Mane
When Liverpool first signed Sadio Mane in 2016, he was still only 24-years-old and still a long way from the finished product he’d become. Neverthless he had just hit double figures in consecutive seasons for Southampton and had proven himself as a top Premier League operator at St Mary’s Stadium.
Some eyebrows were raised when Liverpool spent £36m on the star, who at the time became the most expensive African footballer in history. But in truth they could have spent double and it would still have proven a bargain. Overall, Mane scored 120 times in 269 appearances for Liverpool while also registering 46 assists and winning six major trophies including the Premier League in 2020 and the Champions League a year earlier.
Since his departure Liverpool haven’t had the same injection of pace in their team and they’ve not quite been able to press in the same relentless manner as Jurgen Klopp’s sides did between 2018 and 2020 when they picked up a combined 196 points across two seasons.
Minteh is three years younger than Mane was in terms of development and is not yet at the level the Senegalese international was when he made the move to Anfield. However, he’s among the best top forwards in the league when it comes to pressing from the front and would instanly enhance Liverpool’s team.
Continue Reading